Today we’d like to introduce you to James Hunt
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Chef James Hunt and the owner of Hunt 4 Food & Fitness. Hunt 4 Food and Fitness,” a personal training and meal prep service that I created to enhance the health of restaurant workers and other workers. Hunt 4 Food and Fitness rests on two tenets: 1) proper nutrition and physical activity are equally essential in leading a healthy lifestyle, and 2) if you take care of yourself, you’ll do a better job taking care of customers. I train clients at gyms in Durham. and I typically rent gym time by the hour so that clients aren’t obligated to buy their own membership. My meal prep service, which is strongly encouraged but not required as a supplement to personal training, provides 10 pre-portioned dishes to clients on a weekly basis. (Over the past decade, meal prepping has gained popularity in online fitness and clean-eating communities as a way to save money and reduce the temptation to eat out. Things changed in 2015 when I tore my Achilles tendon and was instructed to stay off his feet for several months. Out of a job, I decided to get my GED and enroll in culinary school at the Chef’s Academy in Morrisville, where he became gym buddies with a student named Paul Ooka. Driven by the same ideals that now shape Hunt 4 Food and Fitness, Me and Ooka launched a pro bono fitness program for their fellow classmates that included Zumba, weightlifting, and full-body circuit classes. After I graduated in 2017 and landed a job as a cook at Saint James Seafood in Durham—and Ooka moved away— I decided to continue the program on his own, getting certified as a personal trainer and adding a meal prep service when Saint James owner Matt Kelly offered him use of the restaurant’s commercial kitchen space.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
one of the biggest hurdles I’ve faced is securing funding to open our first facility.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Hunt4Food&Fitness?
Hunt meal prep menu rotates from week to week, though each dish always includes six ounces of protein and four ounces each of both a starch and a vegetable. He describes his cuisine as international and farm-to-table; some of his current offerings include barbecue salmon with mashed potatoes and asparagus; turkey meatballs with a sweet potato and summer squash medley; and Jamaican-style curry chicken with rice, carrots, and bell pepper.
Folks who don’t work in the restaurant industry are welcome to purchase meal prep or training sessions, but they have to pay a higher rate—$110 instead of $99 for a 10-meal package and $20 instead of $10 for an hour-long training session—as Hunt wants to maximize the number of slots available for restaurant workers with tight budgets.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Believing in myself
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Chefjayroc919
- Facebook: Hunt For Food and Fitness
